for our October 27th board of education meeting. Would you all please rise for the flag song for all Before we begin this evening, I want to take a moment to acknowledge a loss that has deeply affected our Belleville family. Last week, we lost Miss Kristen
Melion, a beloved par profofessional from school for who tragically passed away at the age of 41. Her warmth and dedication to the children she served will never be forgotten. At this time, I ask everyone to please join me in a brief moment of
silence in her memory. Our prayers remain with Kristen's family, her colleagues, and the students whose lives she touched. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening. This meeting has been posted in accordance with chapter 231 PL1975.
Um Tina Ao, would you please call the role and do the sunshine statement? >> Notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with the open public's meeting act NJSA10 col4-6 by the board secretary. A written notice was posted in the office of the board of education
filed with the township clerk and sent to the designated official newspapers at least 48 hours in advance of this meeting. The notice stated the date, time, and location of the meeting and to the extent known the agenda to be discussed. The New Jersey open public's meetings law was enacted to ensure the
right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of the of this board except were specifically exempted by law at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with provisions of this act, the board of education has caused notice of this
meeting to be published by having same advertised in the Belleville Times. Also, notice of this meeting has been mailed to the members of the board, the burough clerk, all elementary schools, the middle school, the high school, Hornblower Early Childhood Center, and posted on the district website. Also, this meeting is being televised via the
district's YouTube channel and Facebook pages. Roll call. Trusty Leon >> here. >> Trustee Gillis >> here. >> Trusty Munice >> here. >> Trusty Majia >> here. >> Trusty Pacheco >> here.
Vice President Daryl >> here. >> President Benamini >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Okay. Thank you. And uh let's move it along and hear our high school representative Joselyn Sepita. You have a uh report for us.
Good evening everyone. Firstly, I would like to congratulate all who are receiving recognition tonight. Congratulations on your accomplishments and thank you for being stellar representations of Belleville schools. In old news, during September, Belleville High School was awarded the
NJSAA Sportsmanship Award for showcasing outstanding sportsmanship during the 2024 to 2025 season. Congratulations to all athletes and coaches at Belleville High School for this achievement. Belva High School's football team incredible
season came to a close on October 23rd at their playoff game where they unfortunately lost. The team had an undefeated regular season and is the only team in Essex County to accomplish this in 2025. Congratulations to the Belleville Buccaneers.
[Applause] Belleville's art club and Key Club participated in the Essex County Gardens of Glow event on October 17th. Students created unique and spooky jacko'lanterns to display at the event, showcasing our school's creativity.
The Belleva and Nutley Columbus Day parade was held on October 19th. Belleville High School Key Club members represented Belleville High School along with Mr. Belleville in this parade. On October 24th, the National Honor Society worked with Belleville School 5 at their
annual trunk or treat. The event was a fun night for families. It included decorated cars, unique costumes, and of course, candy. In new news, the National Honor Society is working with Hornblower Early Childhood Center to host a trunk or treat at Belleville High School on
Thursday, October 30th. The event will the event will include themed cards, giving out candy, and a fun opportunity for children to show off their costumes. On November 5th, the Belleville School District will be having a pink out dress down day for staff and students. Please
dress down in pink to show in support of breast cancer awareness. Financial aid night is on November 12th in Belleville High School's auditorium. This is an opportunity for families of seniors applying to college to see our financial options and receive assistance. All seniors are encouraged
to attend. Check out and follow the journalism club on Instagram at Belleville Buccaneer to access Belleville High School's monthly newsletters with school news, information, updates, and events for students, staff, and teachers. Lastly, I wish a happy Halloween to all who
celebrate. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you very much for your report. We're going to move on to our um awards by Dr. Eric Alonso. >> Good evening. Also, one of the things we're starting to do a little differently this year is besides our
student uh of the month, we want to recognize multiple entities. We want to recognize our student of the month, our staff member of the month, and administrator of the month. >> You know what? >> Every every school >> can we just do the approval of the minutes? We were um and also Jeff, I heard there's no sound.
Just uh check the sound on that. Um okay. Could so. Could we have an approval for our our minutes? Uh a motion for September 15th, the close session and public session. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. And all those in favor? >> I I >> I.
>> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. So after every school gave their submissions, we I randomly selected one student, one staff member, and administrator that we want to highlight and showcase in order to continue our community engagement and to
celebrate those that are nearest and dearest to us, which is our students, our staff, and our administrators. So at this time, I would like to call up Dr. Cahoun and Dr. Lash, please. Good evening, Dr. Alfano Alfonso, members of the board of education and the Belleville community. I'm actually
going to call up Miss Reyes up here who is the second grade teacher and Addison is her student. So, it's our great honor to recognize Addison. Hi, Addison. Addison is a second grader and a student from school 10 as this month's
Belleville Public School District student of the year for September. Sorry, for September. Addison. Oh, okay. I have things to say about her. Addison is an outstanding young lady who always shows exceptional character and
effort in the classroom. She approaches each day with enthusiasm as you could see by this on a smile by on by the smile on her face and effort in the classroom. She consistently shows kindness to her peers. Her teacher, Miss Reyes, describes her as responsible, respectful, and a role model for others.
Addison's positive attitude and dedication is a reflection of the very best of what it means to be a Bellevo student and a school 10 knight and a future Belleville Buccaneer. On behalf of the entire school tent community and of course the board of education and Dr. Alfonso, Addison's accomplishments are
presented with a little award here and a certificate. Nice job, Addison. [Applause] [Applause] Good evening everyone board. Thank you for allowing me to present this this
evening. My name is Dr. Lash and I'm new to the Belleville family and we have some of the best staff members in the state which would make us make them some of the best staff members in the country. I want to recognize our
staff member of the month. She's had quite the journey and before I met her, I learned so much about her and everybody told me all the good things she had did to impact our school over at school 4. Um, and I wanted to come up. Miss Willis, come so I could talk while
you're here and speak your praises. Come stand with me. We we have a very strong family at school 4 and we're trying to change the narrative of a lot of the publicity that we have gotten. Nobody recognizes how hard our teachers work. And Miss Willis,
out of all the teachers there, she received the staff member of the month. All her peers voted for her, not just because of the journey she's been on the last couple months, but how hard she worked. And your staff and family missed you before you came back. I cannot speak
how the impact and the the the brightness she's brought back into the building. She's given us hope. The staff members work hard to make sure we rally together as a family. And it's my pleasure to present this to her tonight. And as we present it, I do want the
staff from school for to come up and celebrate with us. Come on up, school. We're going to take a picture. [Applause] All righty. So, I'm going to be presenting the administrator of the
month. It is with true pleasure tonight to recognize someone who represents the very best of what it is to lead with grace, experience, and heart. When I called upon Miss Demikoff to take the role as principal of Hornblower Early Child Center, she didn't hesitate. She
accepted her with a smile, and with the same smile and positive energy, she's really lit up. Heck, Lucy's journey in Belleville public schools is remarkable. Sorry, Lucy. Yes. 34 years Miss Demikov
has been in district. She began in 1991 as a special education teacher. Miss Demovi, come on down. I'm going to keep highlighting you. Keep coming. She started her career here as a special education teacher at Belleville High School where she spent 10 years shaping young minds. She went on to serve as
supervisor special services for grades 7 through 12, principal of school 3, principal of school 7, director of curriculum and instruction, and now her newest chapter overseeing our babies at Hack as principal. Across every role, Lucy has brought
compassion, professionalism, and an unwavering commitment to children. Her leadership is steady, her kindness is genuine, and her belief in her staff and her students is truly unshakable. Lucy, on behalf of the board of education and myself, thank you for 34
remarkable years. Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for your service. And it is our honor to celebrate you today. [Applause]
Dr. Alonso, if you could actually stay down there. Uh on behalf of the board of education, uh I think it's appropriate for us to acknowledge your recent u honor honor being an honored by Eldario and I said it right. Right. Uh magazine,
one of the longest Spanish language magazines running in the nation. Uh Dr. Alonso on October 10th was honored as one of the visionary leaders. And I I just want to uh invite the board at this time. We got a little something for you.
you guys go up. Yeah. Uh just a little a little quip about um El Dado. Uh from them their own um news publication. This year's honores are beacons of hope, educators shaping future generations, artists, chefs elevating our culture,
community leading uh leaders lending a hand, doctors caring for our health, entrepreneurs creating opportunity, journalists reporting with integrity, and advocates driving justice. Each embodies the resilience and spirit of our people. Their stories remind us that
no obstacles can stop a community that stands firm on its values, inspiring new generations to believe anything is possible and keep working towards a future of dignity and hope. Miss Bennett Media, if you'd like to read the award.
>> Sure could do that if it doesn't blind me with the uh All right. So, it says Belleville Public Schools proudly recognizes Dr. Eric Alonso, Superintendent of Schools, in celebration of your recognition as
recipient of the 2025 L Diario L Award, Excellencia K Inspira, presented by Eldario to honor Latino leaders where excellence and service uplift their communities and inspire future
generations. This dedication reflects your tireless commitment to education, empowerment, and opportunity for all students. Your leadership continues to embody the values of perseverance, integrity, and hope that make lasting
impact on the lives that you touch each day. With gratitude and admiration from the Belleville Board of Education, bold, united, committed, student centered Bucks, October 27th, 2025. Yes, I took
three years of Spanish, but I don't remember a lot, but I can read it. That's your box. Uh before we start the meeting, uh we could take a brief recess if anyone wants to step out. Otherwise, we're going to continue the board of education meeting.
Okay. All right. So, we're going to do a Okay. Just going to give you guys a a small You want to do that first. What is it? The young writers. Okay. Do you want to announce that?
Miss >> Omario, would you like to come up and acknowledge the students? [Applause] How are you? How are you?
>> Good evening everyone. I'm pleased to share that some of our high school students were recognized in the young writers contest called stories inspired by numbers using 100 words. Each student wrote a creative story using their favorite number.
The students stories have been submitted for publication. Their achievement highlights not only strong writing skills but also their unique imagination. Congratulations to the following students. Jordan Kabika, come on up.
[Applause] Up next we have Mia Calva Tori, [Applause] Savannah Cologne, [Applause]
Jacob Maldonado Sophie Monroe, Zule Toledo, [Applause] Leo [Applause] Nina Veneziano,
[Applause] Darius Winters, and last but not least, we have Ranada Cenabria. Congratulations to you all. I'm extremely proud of you.
[Applause] [Applause] Okay, we want to change up this a little bit. So, we want to do the uh NJSLA report results from Jennifer Vigneri.
Yep. Does anyone want to sit down in the audience or It's okay. >> Good evening, Dr. Alfonso, board members, and Belleville community. Tonight, I will be presenting the spring
2025 New Jersey student learning assessment and dynamic learning map results. The NJSLA was administered p this past spring of 2025 with the primary purpose to recognize strengths in our curriculum
and identify areas and growth of potential. It's designed to measure students proficiency in grade level expectations, assessing their understanding of the NJSLA in English language arts, grades 3 through nine, and mathematics grades 3
through 8, algebra 1, algebra 2, and geometry, and science grade levels 5th, 8th, and 11th. This provides a snapshot of our students academic mastery and standards. importantly, not growth from the
beginning of the school year to the end of the year. It is important to view our spring results alongside our star assessments to gauge student growth. The NJSLA performance levels are based on five different levels. Exceeded
expectations, level five, met expectations level four, approached expectations level three, partially met expectations level two, and did not meet expectations level one.
Our first report card is an ELA language arts grades three through five. Here we can see the grade levels along the side and levels across the top as well as years of comparison between Belleville and the state of New Jersey.
Levels one through three are combined together. Levels four and levels five are separated so that we can compare the percentage of meeting and exceeding expectations. In ELA grades three through five, you
will notice a slight increase in grade three, 1.7% increase of 6.8% in grade four, and 11% increase in grade five. Here we can see a side-by-side
comparison of the Belleville and the state at each grade level, three through five. Red represents Belleville, blue representing the state of New Jersey. In English language arts grades 6 through 8, you will notice an increase
of 3.9% in grade 6, 1.7% in grade 7, and 4.8% in grade 8. Again, you will see a side by side of comparison view, Belleville in red, and the state in blue.
English language arts grade nine, we have a decrease of 4.7% in Belleville and the state 8.1%. So, there has been a decrease across the state in uh grade nine. Again,
you can see a side by side of this re being reflected on our graph. Here we are looking at our subgroups data in comparison to 2024 2025 meeting or exceeding expectations levels four and five.
We're looking at the subgroups and we can see that there are many areas of growth from 24 to 2025. At this point, I'd like to shift over to reviewing the Belleville Public School STAR ren data, which displays student growth in ELA grades K through two and
grades 3 through 12. This particular report card shows comparison over the past three years. Here we see early literacy analytics which is grades K through two. The above benchmark data which is in
green has increased by 11.7% over the years and the urgent intervention which is in red has decreased over time. with view with viewing the falltofall star renaissance reading analytics
grades 3 through 12. This comparison chart reflects an increase of 17.2% in our at above benchmark area which is in green and a decrease of students falling within the urgent intervention area
which is in red. This report card views grades in mathematics grades 3 through 5. Here we can see a slight increase in grade three, a 5.3% increase in grade four, and a
12.8 increase in grade five. Once again, our sideby-side comparison of each grade level. And on this card, we can see our mathematics grades six through eight. And in grades six through eight there was a slight increase in grades actually
six through eight. So we can see uh grade six and grade eight had an increase. Once again, our sidebyside chart for algebra 1, algebra 2, and geometry. Each year, the state has changed which
tests were required for high school students. In spring of 2025, the majority of our 9th grade students took algebra 1 with an increase of 5.3% and geometry with an increase of 16.7%.
We only had three students that took the algebra 2 exam because of the change of the requirements. Here we can see a sideby-side comparison. Here we can view our subgroup data which
shows growth in the math in our subgroups of the mathematics. Once again, we're looking at our comparison of our fall to fall star ren analytics mathematics analytics to measure areas of growth. And here we can see a comparison chart over the past
three years with a growth of 6.3% in the at above benchmark which is in green and a decrease in the urgent area which is in red. Now I'm going to be speaking about our
NJSLA science performance levels which is in grades the students are assessed in grades five, eight and 11. Here we can see that there are five different levels. Science has historically been low across the state of New Jersey. On this report
card, we can see an increase in grade five by 2.8% and in grade 8 by 3.1%. Once again, here's our side-by-side comparison of that data and our subgroup information which shows
levels of meeting or exceeding expectations. And we can see our views of increase and some decrease. At this point, I'd like to look I'd like to present intervention strategies which are based on multiple sources of data
including our recent assessment results. So, as you can see here with our CNI department, our curriculum and instruction department and the feedback of the data, we develop several intervention strategies. Multiple strategies that are presented over the
next few slides are in year two, year three, some are even in year four. Within our K2, we have multiensory systematic phonics which is al which is known as our foundations. I'm just going to name a few. Um 7 through 12 we have math curricular resource which is in a
year three and K through eight science curricular resources in year two on this slide just again identifying a few we have our RTI which is our tiered instruction of our star renaissance that's in year three
before and after school tutoring sessions the ongoing elementary summer bridge program which this particular year was identified for particular students to receive um additional supports
and here you can see that we have multiensory literacy toolkits district math and literacy nights for our students and success maker ELA and math for our LLD students. I'd also like to draw your attention to
our intervention and strategies for our multilingual learners. Several of these are within year three and year four. preschool universe 95% capacity of our preschool aged children. Our WEDA 2020
standards are integrated within all of our content areas throughout the curriculum and professional development is provided is led by the supervisor of MLL focused on enhancing the SIOP imple implementation best instructional
practices and development of culturally equitable teaching strategies and the WEDA model is administered in October. October and in January. I'd also like to in this presentation speak about the impact of attendance and
the student transiency. Attendance matters. You may have been seeing a lot of emails that come out from your building principles. It is very important. Statistics show that students chronically absent 10% days consistently score lower on NJSLA.
Regular attendance ensures access to instruction, interventions, and readiness. And reducing absenteeism equals higher engagement and achievement. Student transiency. Frequent moves interrupt learning and academic progress. Transient students
face curriculum gaps and testing disruptions. And stable environment support stronger performance trends. The DLM which is known as the dynamic learning maps is a personalized and dynamic approach to evaluating students
learning progress. It's designed to access assess achievement academic achievement students with significant cognitive disabilities. The assessment is for English language arts and mathematics for grades three
through eight and grade 11. Science is administered in grades 5, 8 and 11. And I will be showing you a performance report which has advanced at target which is proficient, approaching the target which is basic and emerging which
is below basic. So this information here shows us the percent above each bar is the percent of students achieving at target and advanced. And this is for our DM students.
Dynamic learning map results are used in the following ways. The IEP team uses this information for discussion and action planning for annual review for our students. Our learning goals and objections and objectives or modification of IEP
discrete trial teaching and also identify areas of teacher professional development. Individual reports for the NJSLA were sent home in the mail as well as the DM. our district assessment calendar,
which is right here, has been um it's on our website. It was also recently sent home in the beginning of October to all of our all of our parents, and it was also recently sent home with notification of our field testing that's coming up this month. So, it's been sent
out three times. If you haven't received it, please check our Belleville website. Um, this is a copy of an example of the reports that would be received for DM and NJSLA. And along with this presentation, this will also be put on the website tonight for all of you to view deeper. And Dr.
Alfonso, that is the conclusion of my presentation. Thank you very much. I don't know where he is. >> Is he over there board? Before everybody goes back to the seat, we should just wait and do the IMAP presentation as well instead of
everybody going up back and down. Hello everyone. My name is Barry Marillo from IMAC Insurance Agency. I'm here with Elizabeth Ralden and we're here to talk about the uh medical benefit program. So, we were just appointed on October
1st of 2025 as the district's health insurance broker. So our job is to analyze all of the information that is available and um go to market to see what options there are to have the best possible program at the best possible cost. Um
to give a little history on the medical benefits and where things have been, the district moved out of the school employees health benefit program uh last November um of 2024. we were not here for that transition. Um but they moved to Etna on a direct basis. So it's a
fully insured program through Etna. Um not through the school employees health benefit program. Um we uh received the renewal that Etna was coming in and it's coming in at a very big increase, a 65% increase. And we'll
talk about some of the factors as to why that is what it is. Um, but we we marketed it to all of the large carriers in the area, Horizon, uh, Sigma, and we'll go through a list of, you know, everyone that it was marketed to. We also looked at alternate funding um,
arrangements such as a self-insured program perhaps or um, health insurance funds. Uh, so we really in, you know, the short period of time that we've been um, working on this, we've sent this out everywhere that it could possibly go. Uh
we also um analyze what it would be to go back to the school employees health benefit program because that's always an option as well. Um obviously there's been a lot of uh press about the health insurance industry in general. Um costs are going through the roof. Um inflation
has really hit the health care space. Um so we're seeing very large increases throughout the industry. Um and 65% is obviously very significant. Um, one of the timing constraints about the school employees health benefit program is that they require 90 days notice to join the
plan. Um, so that would mean that the earliest transition date for um the district would be on February 1st of 2026 and that would require them to be notified via formal resolution by November 1st. So to go through some of um the data
that's behind and what's driving the increase. So this is this slide shows the actual claims and um premiums paid by the district um under the ETNA fully in program since November of 2024. Um
the most recent data we have runs through July 2025. So that's a 9-month period. In that nine-month period, the total premium build by Etna uh based on the district's um subscriber count uh was $9,977,00023.
However, the insurance carrier paid out $13.92 million in claims. So, that means Etna has a loss of, you know, $4 million um that they're they're seeing, right? they they collected $9 million, but they
paid out uh close to 14 million. Um so that discrepancy is really what's driving the 65% increase. Um you can see month by month even from the first month uh that it was moved uh the district was build 1 million $25,000 in premium but
they paid out 1.6 almost in claims. Um the most recent month in July um is the worst loss ratio that the that has been seen. And so we were waiting for that last month of data to see if we could use, you know, saw improvement. And if we saw improvement, maybe we could negotiate the 65% down a little bit. Um,
but that wasn't the case. It's actually the worst, um, month that, um, the carrier has seen. Um, so that comes to 140% loss ratio. Uh, so that means for every dollar in premium paid, the carrier's paying out $1.40.
The carriers are looking for that number to be in the 85 to 90% range. um because they have to cover their own costs and you know they're administering the program. So there's a lot of services that are involved in that. Um so obviously this is not a a great picture
of you know what we like to see when we're going into a renewal. To compare this to um the most recent data we have before that. So when you're in the state the school employees health benefits program they only give you your data once per year. Um the most recent
report, this was what was used to uh move out of the state plan to go to Etna Direct. Um it goes from April of 2023 to March of 2024. Um so you'll see here the loss ratio was 90% for that 12-month period, which is
kind of what they're looking for um to get a competitive quote. Uh and you see that the district paid in that time 11.49 million in premium. Uh but in terms of paid claims and what the state pl paid out in that program, it was
10.32 million. So that's kind of what you're looking for in terms of um you know a good loss ratio to attract um the market to provide a quote. The next slide here shows again that
same two data sets uh from November to July of 25. You see the paid claim number of $13.9 million. Again, that's only nine months worth of claims information. So, there's going to be three additional months that get added to that. Um, and if you compare that to
the the year before that we have the data, it was only $10.3 million in claims. So, something uh whether it's just additional high claimments, which we have high claimment counts here. So, the last year with the state, there was
38 high claimants over $50,000 in claims each uh for a total of $3.4 million. Uh but in that nine month, the most recent 9-month period, that number jumped up to 47 claimants over $50,000 uh for $5.9 million in premium uh in $5.9 million in
claim costs. Um so that number has significantly jumped. Uh so we did market this to all of the carriers, Horizon, Etna. Um we did stoploss quotes as well. So we'll see that on the next page. We went to Sigma,
the United Healthcare, and uh two of the different health insurance funds um that are available for public sector entities to join. Um Horizon declined to quote on the fully insured proposal. They did give us an ASO proposal, which is the
administrative services only. uh that is for a self-insured uh program. Uh Etna, we have the the renewal at 65% and they did not budge from that number. Um and you know the data kind of justified that
that increase. Uh they did provide an ASO proposal as well. Uh Sigma declined to quote United Healthcare will only quote public sector uh over a thousand lives. So they declined as well. uh and both of the health insurance funds
declined to quote. Uh the next page uh shows the different um stop-loss carriers that we went to for self-insured proposals. Uh stop-loss covers uh catastrophic claims. When you're self-insured, you pay every premium, every claim dollar that comes
in the door. So, you want to have protection for large claimants and if the entire program goes over a certain threshold. Uh we did get a proposal from Sunlife. So, we did were able to kind of model out what a a self-insured program would look like. Symmetra is the other carrier and we went through a bunch of
others that hold declined to quote. Uh so, this kind of shows you um the different renewal options for 2026. Uh the current Etna premium on an annual basis uh you see here is $13.4 million.
At a 65% increase, that number jumps very significantly to $22 million. the self-insured proposal where you see Etnaitane on an ASO basis for 2026 model when we modeled that out it came to 20.7
million so you know better than the 65% increase but still really big increase. Um and then the other option is to move to the school employees health benefits program which is the most cost advantage place to be at this time. Um, and again,
this this takes into consideration the fact that you will have one month with ETNA at the 65% increase. Uh, for a February 1 implementation, on an annual basis, that number goes to $18.55 million. So, as far as next steps, um, if the
district were to move forward with, uh, the SEBP and moving back again, November 1st is the deadline to go for, um, February 1. Um, so there would be January 1, the the rates would go up 65% for that one month and then you would
move to, um, the state plan beginning on February 1st. um that is the most cost advantage program for both the employees that are in the direct 10 or the direct 15 plan that are paying a percentage of premium for their their benefits. Um you know if
the district does decide to move forward is going to be here to help the entire transition. Um we've done this a bunch of times. We understand that you know moving health benefits is not always um the easiest thing for um employees to have to deal with. our office. We're
local. Um you call our office or we have people on, you know, ready to go to answer any questions and help um the employees through those questions. Um we'll help, you know, put all the information together that so that it's communicated properly and that employees
know exactly what to do. Um I'm going to pass it to Liz to just kind of talk about the enrollment and that that experience that the employees would have to kind of go through to transition to uh a plan through the state. Um, >> thank you. We, as Barry said, we are
very much in line and in tune with the needs of making a transition of any healthc care benefits. Our goal is to make this as smooth for the employees and for the administration as possible. That includes having employees able to give our office a call at any time. Uh
we are responding via email as well, hosting in-person meetings for the employees, hosting online webinars uh after school to make it convenient for employees uh to talk to us after dismissal. But our goal is really to really educate employees on all of their
enrollment options on how that process takes place. We are very knowledgeable uh should the district uh decide to move into state health benefits. Again, we are very knowledgeable on the benefit solver system, which is the enrollment system for the state health benefits that employees that were in it about a
year and a half ago. Um, may have uh some familiarity with it, but we are here to really handhold uh as much as possible. We're actually going through uh a lot of enrollment right now with our current groups that are in the state health benefits. So, we've been working day and night, literally answering
people's questions about how their doctors are covered or how certain medications may be covered depending on the plan that they choose. And we have those one-on-one conversations with employees because everyone's needs medically and financially are very different. So, we want to provide that custom service to be able to have the
employees be comfortable in whatever decision they're making about their health plan for them and for their families. But, uh, as Barry said, we are local. We're about six minutes away from the office. Um so we are very much uh here to go ahead ahead and help the employees make this transition uh as
easy and smooth for everyone. Thank you. >> Barry, uh one of the board members has a question. >> Hi, sorry. Um just quick question for any of our employees that are currently going through go to go through this transition. Should they is there going
to be any lapse in that time frame from switching from this the ETNA to the next provider like if they have any current claims out or if they have anything that you know comes up in the that lapse like uh is there any concern to them that that that something won't be covered?
>> Yeah. So what would happen is any claims happening before February 1st would get paid by um the ETNA fully insured plan and then you know when the clock you know moves over to February 1st that's when the state plan would kick in and everything would be effective as of that
date >> and and and you you mentioned having a service that they can call so should they have any concerns that's an example of one of the things that you guys would cover on their behalf. >> Absolutely. Yes. Thank you. Can I ask another question? >> Of course.
>> Uh, this always seems to come up with insurance and I want to make sure it's covered here. Obviously, it's pre-existing conditions which is always that >> caveat that needs to be figured out. >> Yes. There's no pre-existing condition limitation um with the switch. >> I have a question.
>> Yeah. So when the initial transition happened from state to Etna during that time, if there was an option for a HIF or anything of sort, what would that have looked like instead of switching out of the the state health benefits plan? Um, in terms of like the cost, I
don't I don't know because we weren't here for that exact transition, but when you're in a health insurance fund, um, they and you get an offer for a health insurance fund, it's kind of hard to get one of those. Um, because they're pretty selective about the rates that they give. Every group that joins pays a
different amount. Um, whereas the state pool is one set standard rate for everyone in it, no matter, you know, what your claims experience is. Um, so if you have a quote from a health insurance fund and you participate in the health insurance fund, you go to monthly meetings, you can see what's
going on in terms of the claims. Um, they, you know, monitor and manage the programs very well. So, typically they'll have, you know, a surplus amount that they set aside to make sure that, you know, if claims spike that there's some cushion there. Um, and the
increases are usually a lot less um, variable and they're more consistent on an ongoing basis. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Very good. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> We're done, right?
>> Okay. Good evening everyone. We'll get back to our regularly scheduled meeting here now. And um I just want to take a few moments to give you guys an update of where we are now uh and where we were just a few
months ago. Um first I just want you to get a a a lay of the land here and a view of what we're calling our team. And we want to begin by you know again another warm welcome to Dr. Eric Alonso who is our superintendent of the
Belleville Public School District. We also want to introduce our assistant superintendent Dr. Tom Dia who's had 15 plus years in the Belleville public school district and new to the team Tina IKO
who is our new BA for our school district. And we're really excited with this team. They are very dynamic. They are full of energy. They're very forthcoming with information. Um, Dr.
Dia and Miss Ayekio are both from another district. They both have children and they're both on a board of education in their district, too. So this has been phenomenal for this board to to see um different points of view
and to be guided and and given uh full information on some of the decisions that we make and some of the things that are presented before us. Um so I just wanted to say that um you this is our team and this we're the board of education of course. Uh that's not to
say, let's go back and reference now. We were a district for 10 years with a superintendent and the district did a lot of phenomenal things during that time and that superintendent came in at a very tulous time. I was around for it. Some of us out there in the audience
have been around for many years. Some of us out there in the audience have also sat on this board of education. I can tell you that it is night and day. This board of education today is very different than the board of education that was here yesterday and this team is
is very vibrant and again exciting. So I just want to say that you know we started talking about a lot of things. Oh let me also say that we were under did I say we were under state monitor? Yes we're under state monitor uh at the
time. So that was another issue. And uh in the last two years we we had very large increases in our taxes, our residents who live in town. Um last year it was 2.9%.
And the year and that doesn't seem large, but the year before it was 6.5%. And it didn't start out that way. It started out prefacing a budget that was sent to the state very early on at a very inflated percentage, 10 and 8% as
you guys know. Um, and some of you remember sitting up here and we were always told this is just a preliminary budget. This is not going to be your final budget. So, we ended up with those very high numbers. Uh, and that was a big impact in the community. Um,
fast forward to now, we've been saying the same thing that we said every year. Please be mindful of our residents and our community here in this township. Uh, there are a lot of people that can't make ends meet. uh and there are a lot
of things that are going on and they're they're not able to think about what might come next year especially when and I'll keep going with my presentation some of the things that we hear are coming. Uh so we're ve being very
mindful of the budget and this team is being very mindful of our budget. So, we started out by asking a year ago to please do a comprehensive review of all of our district programs, our vendors, the contracts, the IT, the operations,
and again, some of the board members that are sitting out there have asked these same questions every year. It was as if we needed to do a full audit. So, this was done in just a few short months to the point where Dr. Alonso was only
just hired July 1st he began uh Delia a month or two after that and now fast forward to Miss Akio who was sitting with us but was also part of the consultant. So you've it's like the spirit was here a year ago but you you've done a lot of great work. They
have found a savings in our budget by looking at all of those things that I just mentioned of $1.7 million. So, just remember a few months ago when we heard that we were in a deficit of $1.9 million. Where that came from, I
have no idea. So, we have $1.7 million. Wow. Okay. We're not spending it all. So, we would like to think about what's going to happen next year and how will we not burden our
taxpayers? how will we not have an impact that we've seen the last two years that we we had we did not vote on those budgets. Those were all budgets that were the monitor put forth so that the board cannot be blamed on those last two years of
budgets. Although everybody wants to come and say the board of ed increased my taxes by six and a half% and 2.9%. That was not true. That was the monitor that went in overrode our vote and changed it. So thinking ahead, we want
to make sure that we give our children anything that we can give them first, right? The children are always first. Also, we just heard the presentation for the health benefits and we all know that health care costs are rising. So part of
that 1.7 million is going to be stretched. We also don't know what the federal funding formula is going to be, if there is going to be any federal funding. And I know Dr. Alonso is already hearing those rumors that are out there. Um, so we want to be very
mindful, but we are very excited. Almost couldn't believe it. Um, and and how they they figured all this out and really got in there. And there's still more to go from what I understand. So, this is very exciting. And this is October.
Um so what became clear is that for the last year or two the board of education was not really given all the information that we thought we were being given when we were making certain decisions.
And we can remember back when there was a boondoggle with the employee health benefits. something happened and there were issues and the the people weren't getting their paychecks at the most critical time, which was during the
holidays. Um, whatever it was, it prompted the BA at the time to find a new insurance company, which he said he went out and did at a savings of about a million dollars. Now, you know that that was not true. The savings was not a
million dollars. A couple of months later, we found out it was going to be much less. And now, fast forward, we're still having issues, which now prompted us to go back to the old insurance carrier. So, you can really see how twisted this whole thing is. And not to
bore you, but that you know you're sitting out there in the audience or listening on the video and it's very hard to understand what we're hearing in our committee meetings, how we're interacting,
that things are unimaginable or impossible and to fast forwarding now to just knowing that there's more information. Like I said, information is forthcoming and it's a very exciting time. Um, so we've been making great progress and
we're very excited with this. Um, we feel that and I've been advocating for this. One of the things that this district has really been lacking for the last few years is a strategic plan. And
if anyone knows what a strategic plan is, is it's something that is developed by everyone, the community, the teachers, the parents, the students. You all have a stake in designing what your strategic planning goal is going to look
like for five years. We have not had one. If you go back and look at the website, you might find one from seven or eight years ago. And that means that the community develops how they want to see the school district move forward in the next five years. Whether you want to
focus on student achievement, on buildings, on community engagement and outreach and communication, anything you want, four things, five things, and what the goals are to get to
that point. And everybody sits there and creates those achievable goals because we don't want anything that is going to be out of our reach. So, you create these goals, you develop this plan, and that is so necessary, I think, right now, for this district and this team to
do to move the Township of Belleville's public school district forward. Um, so that's all I really wanted to say to just open it up. I know that Dr. Alonso will have more to add in his report. Uh, Mrs. Ayekio will have things to add and
possibly Dr. Dia. So, thank you for listening to me and and thank you team for doing what you did. We are so grateful and I just know that the community is grateful as well. Thank you.
So, with that said, Dr. Alonso. Good evening. As the board president shared tonight, it represents another milestone for Belleva public schools and our journey forward. The board of independence gained the board of education gained their independence on
July 1st. We have worked hand in hand to rebuild transparency, restore accountability, maximize efficiency, and ground every decision we do on the reason that we're all here is for our children. Already that collaboration's produced
measurable results of $1.7 million. And that is a conservative amount. the this budget is being redirected to rising health care costs and right back to the classroom where they belong. Now, let's be clear. Real progress is
never easy. When you shine a light on old systems and insist on doing things the right way, it could cause some very uncomfortable moments. But integrity sometimes requires discomfort. And that's a trade I'll make every single
time if that's what it means for the betterment of our children and our staff. We're also leading in an era of widespread misinformation, not just nationally, especially right here at home. Too often, half truths and distorted narratives are shared for
personal and political advantage. That damages trust, divides our community, and distracts us from the real mission, again, our children. It's perfectly fine to disagree. In fact, disagreement can strengthen a democracy, but disagreement must be
grounded in honesty. Misleading others, whether intentionally or not, is very harmful to a society as a whole. As leaders, we have a moral and ethical responsibility to tell the truth. And I want to tell our teachers, our p professionals, and our staff to please
know that my door is always open. I will always make time to meet with you, listen with you, and help you in whatever your needs are. Your dedication is the heartbeat of this district, and I'm deeply grateful for your service and professionalism. I'm also very excited to share that we
have completed our review of applications for the Belleville Aspiring Leaders Academy. We received an incredible amount of responses from leaders who are looking to move up the ranks and be the future of Belleville. And that is really what we're trying to do here is to cultivate
our grow your own model and have leaders from within step up when the time is called. This initi this initiative is another example of how we're investing in people because leadership is not a title, it's a calling. And Belleville is full of rising leaders that are ready to answer
that call. To our family, staff, and community members, thank you for your partnership and trust. If you ever have any questions or concerns, I invite you to directly come to me. I believe the truth doesn't need defending. It simply needs to be told
without a prerogative. Our mission remains clear to give every Belleville student the highest quality education possible guided by integrity, accountability, and excellence. That is our commitment. That is our focus
and that is the foundation of Belleville excellence moving forward. Thank you, Madam President. >> Very good. Thank you very much. Do we have any reports from Dr. Dia this evening >> or any comments? >> Just a quick reiteration of what uh Mr.
Merilla had said. I said you hang around long enough you become kind of an informal historian on some of the board actions and um I happen to have been in a situation where I was in HR when we had made these healthc care decisions.
Uh after talking to some of the um uh parties involved in the um transition, namely our uh our insurance brokers, our former insurance brokers. Uh it does appear that in the 2022 uh 2023 2024
school year late spring options were presented. Um all in all uh the decision to transition to the current insurance plan uh was made by previous administration in that spring. uh took effect November 2024
and at that time it was anticipated and we keep seeing this number being heard and you can look back in the old minutes for it I if you for reference in August of uh 2024 um this you see you hear a savings of a million dollars a savings of a million
dollars some of us in this audience uh that are are employees were in a room where we were told it would be a savings of a million dollars a million dollars million dollars Well, now here we are a year into the plan. Um, as we face our renewal, we're
seeing a proposal of a 65% increase on that insurance. Same insurance plan that we deliberately moved under state monitorship into uh for that savings. Um, unfortunately, the expected savings didn't materialize and here we are dealing with the realities of rising
healthcare, which is not unique to Belleville. Um but nonetheless is uh now placed into Belleville's lab uh Belleville public schools lab and we have to make a decision here. Um and the reason I'm sharing this this timeline and context is that we want to be fully transparent. We want to know um so
history does not repeat itself uh where we were and and it explains where we are now and hopefully by the decisions made by this board where we're going to be. So that's it madam president. >> Very good and thank you for that Dr.
Dia. We will definitely be uh tapping you on the shoulder for your history. All right. And Mrs. uh IO for your BA report. >> Sure. Yes. Um just a couple of things. We are wrapping up our 2024 2025 audit.
I want to thank the efforts of the business office who spearheaded the this whole thing to get it done in a timely manner. We're actually done way ahead of schedule. I appreciate the insight from the team and I look forward to using the data to improve the efficiency of the office. I'll be in touch with the board to let you guys know when the auditors
are coming to present to finance committee and then to the uh the board in public. On tonight's agenda, you'll also see the approval of the 2026 2027 budget calendar. Uh this process will kick off actually in the next few weeks. I know it seems really early, but it's not. Um on behalf of Dr. Isbicki, your
current interim business administrator, Mrs. Danzinger, my assistant BI, and myself. We're excited to work with the district administration to approve, excuse me, approach the budget creation with transparency and collaboration, and hopefully in a way that we can work uh strategically offset some of the cost increases, some of which you guys heard
about tonight, like healthcare costs. Uh the budget process will begin with in-person meetings with administrators to gather information and input, and I will keep the board ab breast of this process. That concludes my report. Thank you. >> Excellent. Thank you very much. Okay, with that said, we want to open up public participation. Do we have a
motion? >> So moved. >> I'll second that. Mike Darl, >> you want to do the timer? >> So, we'd like to call Mr. Michael Sheldon to the podium. >> Here we go. Uh, good evening everyone. Michael
Sheldon, 47 Floyd Street. few critical agenda items. I'm hoping you will answer my questions at some way this evening. First of all, 7.60. You are about to expand the original
three-year contract for our new superintendent from a three-year one to a 5-year one. He has been here less than four months and yet you want to give him >> Excuse me. I'm sorry, Mr. Sheldon. Can you pause for one second? All right, I'm
closing my clock. >> Um, uh, Dr. Alonso, can I see you outside for a minute? >> Want me? I'm just going to walk away until things get back to normal. >> I'd like them to be in the audience. >> Yeah, just have a seat. I I'm caught off
guard myself. Can you see it on there? Let me know when it's safe to Yeah. >> Okay, Mr. Sheldon, you can step out to the podium. We're going to begin. clock indicates I have two minutes and 26 seconds. So, let me restart my my counter.
>> All right. So, I'd like to know um the reason why you're giving the new superintendent this contract expansion at this time. Let me point out that our former superintendent uh when he started here in February of 2015, he also began with a three-year contract, but uh the board at that point made him wait 10
months before they gave him a uh an expansion to five years. So, if you could clarify that, I appreciate it. The uh insurance matter. Um based on the comments you made, Gabby, um sounds like um we're all shocked to learn that uh
apparently our former superintendent, our former BA, and our state monitor may have misled all of us about uh some of the finances. I'm absolutely shocked. Notwithstanding all the lawsuits that they filed against me to shut me up about these matters. uh but uh uh the uh
IMAC presentation, could you please post that? I assume that you've been given copies of it. Could you please make that publicly available? I would like to point out that even if you switch to the state health benefits program, according to the last column in that uh final slide, next year's health costs are
going to increase by more than $5 million. So, if all other things being equal, if you have to come up, if our board has to come up with another $5 million to cover health cost, that translates to roughly a $500 per
household increase in the local school tax levy before you have to address any other items. And while you may have found $1.7 million in savings at this point, that's bupcus. You're dealing with a current operating budget of over $130 million. 1.7 million is essentially
cushion change. You're gonna have to find a hell of a lot more savings than 1.7 million not to stick residents next year with a tax increase that if we're lucky will only be 500 and won't approach what Montlair residents are currently facing in December of this
year after they found a $20 million deficit. They're looking at a $2,000 per household increase for their local school taxes. So, uh, I have a few seconds left here. I just wanted you to, uh, please explain 10.38 Jaffy
Communications. Jaffy is the primary public relations firm for the town hall political machine. Some of us call that their propaganda machinery. Previous years, they've always been constrained at $7,000 a year, at $1,000 a month. But now, you're expanding that to $20,000 a
year and nearly $3,000 a month. Why is Jaffy being given so much more money for the next 12 months? Thank you. >> Please, I would like some answer to my questions. >> Okay, we'd like to call Mike Mon to the
podium. >> Madam President, I have a comment for Mr. Sheldon. So, Mr. Shelton, for months you have engaged in a pattern of public attacks that have now crossed the lines to defamation, harassment, and what I believe is racially motivated.
>> That's ridiculous. >> You just we just shared earlier how our community since July 1st has saved $1.7 million since the independence of the board of education. That is what real leadership looks like. Real change requires courage, integrity, and the
willingness to confront what others may prefer to keep in the shadows. Your repeated posts and racially altered depictions of me stand in direct opposition of those values. In your most recent images, you changed my skin tone
to misrepresent my racial identity. >> There are four other board members here who are of Latino descent, yet you chose to alter my skin color. I find that targeting and I find that racially incentivizing. >> We can laugh in your face. >> Okay. As the first Latino superintendent
in Belleville's history, I represent a student body that is over 75% Latino, and I will completely stand against any racially inclined comments, posts, or slurs. >> You continue to reference a so-called Fallon report, a confidential legal
document from another district that you have neither seen nor lawfully have right to access. For the record, I was never disciplined, charged, neither seen in any type of situation of that sort. >> You have also claimed that you have a
great conversation with the mayor of that district. Yet again, they are now appointed another superintendent. So, let me be clear. I was not the problem. Let me be very clear right now. Your conduct has created a hostile and
discriminatory environment. I now feel personally and racially targeted and I am formally documenting this behavior as harassment and discrimination. Mr. Sheldon, your actions are unacceptable and they have no place in a community
built on integrity and respect. I'm sorry, Madam President. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Minion. >> Okay. Okay. Mike Mone, Bubble Education Association President, 387 Union Avenue. Okay. Um, in light of the the
movement now back to the state healthc care, state employee healthc care benefits plan, um, I just want to, you know, just want to, you know, set a reminder to contractual language that we have. Um, article 19, number one, medical, first sentence says all
employees will be eligible to enroll in a program designated by the board of education with benefits equal to or better than the blue blue cross blue shield direct 10. So, I know we're going back to Blue Cross Blue Shield. I know that. But I'm just hoping that it is the
same exact plan that we came from which will be equal to but I think we might run into some other issues because remember the language equal to or better is equal to or better from the program that you went to Blue Cross Blue Shield to now Etna which we worked so hard to
try to get to be equal to or better because at the po at that point it really wasn't. We had some I IVF issues that weren't equal to um Blue Cross Blue Shield. We had some uh um supply issues where we were trying to get pharmaceutical supplies that weren't
equal to um Blue Cross Blue Shield. But we may, and I don't know, I only know this when our when our employees uh reveal them, but we may have some some uh um uh some part of that Etna plan
that was better than Blue Cross Blue Shield, which now the board will be be uh held to that standard because equal to or better means when you're better, you have to now be equal to or better than that plan. So, I just want to make sure that's you know, we understand
that. So, I don't know what's going to come down the road. Um, I know there also was a lot of issues which I'm hoping we can resolve before it happens. Um, and I don't think it's going to be as big of a problem as it was last time being that we started the new plan in November. So, you had a lot of
deductibles, right? So, the deductibles were all the way from January to November and then when we hit Etna in November, they started our deductibles over again. And now we had to go chase after that for months and months. So, this is only going to be a one-mon thing. So, I don't think it's going to be a huge problem, but I'd like to get
ahead of that also. Um, and as far as I know, like I also want to commend the uh uh Dr. Alfonso because according to contractual language, he was supposed to consult with us before making that move and he did. Excellent. I'm so happy for
that. Very nice. Called emergency meeting on Friday, gave us a heads up on that. So, that was really good. um that never said anything about the prescription plan, so I'm assuming that prescription is the same. And uh thank you so much for your time,
>> Mon. Uh yes, we're going to be working directly with you with all the association leadership to make sure equal to or better is absolutely at the par. We don't ever want to sacrifice any services for any financial means. >> Let's call Mario Draws up to the podium.
Mario Jaws 95 Bell Street. Hope you're st starting the timer now because when I go to a town meeting, he is on 15 seconds from the time I walk. So start from the beginning. Um few questions on the 7.6. From what I heard and what I
seen online and whatnot, it's 12-mon contract that was approved at June 16, 2025. I have a question. Who initiated it? So I know seven people could not have initiated uh the change in contract. So I'd like to know who that I
person is. That's number one. Has when has the board discussed all the details to extend its contract after only four months? And what is the purpose of this? I'm just making it nice and easy because Mel Sheldon said a lot of things here.
Uh and what is the purpose of a five-year contract? uh is the pro the issue that I have is at least wait one year to evaluate somebody. I just can't understand it's mindboggling. I have never seen anybody get evaluated in four
months. After a year then then it's a different story total. And then there's a rumor floating around that a sitting board member is a lifetime friend and I would hope that person would abstain and it hope it's not a conflict. And my question is,
how much of a salary increase? How is it laid out? And what are the terms and conditions for the five years if that goes through this evening? He said something about the nine months with with the other guy there. There's an election for board members next week
and I don't think this should be voted on today. Let because there may be a change in board members totally and I just think this is the wrong time to do it. And I also questioned the legality of voting on something like that today.
And then I'm going to just just jump around a little bit. I got one more item here. Just remember one thing. Board members, you come and go. And just uh 10.6 there's a snap of snap
uh something lunchons or something. Is that the question I have there? Is it state or federal money? And if it is state or federal money, I'm just wondering if there's a backup plan. If the monies are taken away from the state or federal government, do you have a
backup plan to for these lunches? That's it. >> Yeah, if I could dive in there. Um, as to your question, as the board member that initiated, that was me. Uh, conversation. Uh I was fortunate enough to be part of the negotiations. Um when
we started with this process for the state monitor um we were essentially um we're given a a certain guide. Uh we were told this is the budget allocated for this search and this is the contract terms that we are willing to that that
are acceptable for us as a district. um you know we we we saw a good amount of candidates at the time and as it whittleled down the process that we took when we started to where we ended um just started changing it was like a it was a moving target right so a very
important uh point to make is that um this anything whatever this board wanted regardless we were still under state monitor oversight so at the end the final decision was going to be his regardless. Um so as we progressed through the conversation um we noticed
that depending on the candidates that were being weeded out to the candidates that were being left over we ended up with uh the that target kept changing and kept getting less um on the budget side as well as in the term side um as well as some you know merit goals and
different items that are in the contract as part of the superintendent negotiations. um motivating factor for me to bring it up is because um I know what we promised him to start with and to what he ended up getting and and when he first came on he accepted uh the
opportunity on the pretense of what we initially had offered him and that's the reason why I want to go back to a 5-year scenario where because it's it's us keeping our word to what we know that he essentially initially said that he would um accept this role
with once the once that target changed um he still went ahead and and accepted the position. Um, separately beyond that, I mean, I brought it up because if we're going to talk about um, you know, it's even though it's been three, it's been three months or so since he's been
here, within that three months, there is an immediate change and there's an both to how our community is engaging us in our in our district, but also how our staff is working along with us and some of the feedback that we're getting from
them on what the the the the impact that has been made so far. And as you know to your statement about wanting to uh wait for the new board to go ahead and and and be part of this board. You know there's one of the one of the things that we talk about as board members is
that transition time. Um you know at this point Gabby and I are probably the two you know we're six years in. We're probably the two that are have been here the longest. Um with with Michael uh being a next part of that and then you know working its way up. you know, there's a context like, you know, if if
if if we were not if we were to not have Gabby and we were not have Mike um be part of this uh board um during the new election, there's a timeline of six years that we're going to lose as a community and as a board and there's a lot of conversations that have been had
in a lot of initiatives. Uh I think we've had a fantastic um you know six years within this board you know with the last year you know not to you know without counting the last year of this transition but within the five years that we were able um to be a part of it
we went through you know and tons of credit given to Dr. Tomco for getting us through a referendum getting us through two buildings that were going to be closed and no long and now all of our facilities being updated and so much work having happened with with the previous boards and Dr. Tom. So, tons of
credit to him. Um, and we're very grateful for the foundation that he gave us to move forward with. But with that, we feel that if we're going to start planning for the next 5 years of this district, it should be the board that has the most context of what's happened and the board that that can actually
tell you what we've dealt with, what we're currently dealing with, and what we know is coming down the pipeline. that if we're going to talk about leadership and we're going to talk about fiveyear strategic plans, it's important that we have somebody in place that is not going to have a a a deadline halfway
through that strategic plan. We want somebody who's going to come in, take control of it, and see it through to the very end. So, with that is part of the reason why I wanted to initiate this conversation to give him what was originally part what was originally on the table for every candidate, but then
separately what we know we committed to him too. Yes. So the monitor interjected himself during that whole process from start to finish uh after we had hired the consultant uh to make sure that we did everything properly. But he also then
stripped us when we were negotiating contract because the board is supposed to negotiate the contract. So uh we had gone back and forth two two times and he then stripped the contract from us. He took it and uh it was a barebones contract when he returned it for
signature and it was done at the final moment at the the last hour. The monitor also took the custodial contract out of our hands and never discussed the custodial contract with them to the point where we ended up in the room just
staring at each other because I said, "Well, we can't negotiate because the monitor was going to do that." So that was the monitor oversight we had. That's how it's been since January, the beginning of the year. It's been a very awkward year and things have been
happening very quickly. Like I said, it's just very different right now. Um, so that's it. So our next >> Oh, right. >> Yeah. I mean, I can I can comment a So it's a great question, Mr. Gerros. Thank you. So, uh, obviously the the Fed, you
know, freezing money is is scary for all of us. And though al although we don't have any clear picture on what's going to happen with some of our discretionary grants, the entitlement meal reimbursements, um, National School Lunch to to be specific, which is what we're involved with, which is what captures those SNAP students right now
is projected to be untouched. So, uh, there's no indication that that will be affected at all, although I have no crystal ball. And finally, as to add as to legality of the contract, there is still oversight. It had to go to the executive county superintendent who had to sign off
before the board could actually take action. You'll invite Gary Hinton up to the podium. Vincent France Anton. Okay. Good evening. The um
previous speaker spoke about 7.6 the superintendence contract. If you could tell me now or before you vote, can we know all the revisions to this contract?
And um I agree, you know, it's Mr. Alfonso, Dr. Alphonsto's there a few months. I don't know why revision. Let's see after a year what actually happens. I hope he does
uh what's proposed here and get some changes done that we drastically need. The problem is like with Dr. Tomco who was hired as Mr. Tomco and
I have four of his revised contracts, but I think there was more I gave up after a while. So, we should wait at least a year and see if there's some actual results. Um, everybody that takes over in the beginning,
all the statements sound good, but results, we have to see the actual results first. So I'm once again I'm not shocked because after four decades I told you I'm not shocked of anything
that goes on at these meetings and um a lot of things happened. Now we're blaming the state monitor he did wrong. Well there was seven trustees here. Why didn't you speak up if you
felt something the state monitor wasn't doing? I certainly spoke from the seat. I didn't like some of the things he was doing and I was shut up, you know, with the same few words. Your five minutes are up. So, I don't know why you didn't
speak up against the state monitor. And in even with our business administrator, there was a lot of questions when he was first hired and then not hired and then hired again. And there was something about a relationship with the state
monitor and the administrator, I believe a relative of his. And if I as a citizen knew about that stuff, how come the trustees didn't know? And now here we are. So I hope Miss Dr. Alfonso
go and I had a a little uh interaction with Dr. Alfonso and uh I I I guess I missed the date of our coffee chat. All right, I'm still waiting for that date. Um
let me go to let's see what page it is. We've got um first of all, I can't believe we're running a school our kids and we got a mess of resignations and medical leaves and all this stuff on
um 7.10. It's uh medical leave of absence. And now we go down to 7.178
7.19 leave medical of absence. Now what's the correct terminology here? Is it medical leave of absence? That's
what what I would think. So, our test scores, the report was here once again are down in the dumps. Like, they're all down below 50%. And when you compare the blue and the red line to the state averages, we're really, really
low. And it's embarrassing. All this money we're spending, and it's embarrassing. So, what I'd like to know, and I I sent the newspaper in the spring, a copy highlighted in one issue
of the Herald, I mean, of the record, there was >> 97 misspellings or errors or poor grammar. >> Mr. Hinton, can you please wrap it up, please? >> You know what is right, medical leave of absence or leave medical of absence? If
we can't get grammar right as a board of trustees, how do we respect our children to do that? >> Everybody ready? >> Okay. Can we have a motion to close public participation? >> Motion. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor?
>> I. >> All right. We're going to move on to our agenda items. We're going to start with items 7, resolutions on personnel 7.1 to 7.73 items suggested by the superintendent. Do we have a motion? >> So moved.
>> Second. >> And is there any discussion on items of personnel hearing? None. Mrs. Aoba, will we please call the role? >> Trusty Leon. >> Yes. >> Trusty Gillis. Um, can I'm sorry. Can we
separate it, >> Madame President? >> Or can I >> You can just vote no to one resolution if you'd like. We don't have to split it. >> So, for 760, I just had a comment to say.
>> Um, so I agree with the majority of the proposed changes for Dr. Fansel's contract and appreciate the thoughtfulness and um discussions that we've had surrounding this matter and I have great confidence that he'll continue to do um excel his in his role
in Belleville. Um and by no means my vote does not reflect the performance at is as it is clear he has accomplished a great a lot in these last few months um and a positive impact on our district. However, I believe that the newly
elected board should be the ones that say the final say in June or sooner than that. Um, so for 7.60, I say no and yes to the rest. Trustee Munice, >> yes.
>> Trustee Majia, >> yes. >> Trustee PCO, >> yes. Vice President Darrow, >> I'm going to say yes to everything uh with the exception of 7.60. And I do want to uh follow up with that one if
it's okay with Madame President. Okay. First, I would like to state on the record that I think Dr. Alfonso is doing a fantastic job as our superintendent. He came in during a very rough period for our district and has been leading the charge ever since then by hitting the ground running. The
dynamic he created between us and as the board by making himself always available to us and then to the district has been such a refreshing change from the last administration. If the time and the place we were at today were somewhere else in time, say somewhere between the 9th month or one year mark, I'm sure my
vote would have reflected a very much a much different point of view. This is by no means a reflection on the man or on the job that he's been doing steadily and non-stop since July. I don't feel great about it. It did pay me to say it. Uh just from my perspective, I'm looking
at it more from a business corporate background that I have. It would be rather difficult for me to be able to justify any type of uh major contract change at this stage without first going through an additional period of time. Uh he has my respect as a leader and I
would only expect more great things to come from him and I look forward to continuing the relationship we have all have together as we move our district ahead. Uh but unfortunately in 76 I do have to vote no. >> Can you confirm the remainder of the resolutions? Yours. >> Uh yes. I'm sorry. Everything else >> No. Thank you.
>> is is a yes. >> Thank you. >> With the exception. >> President Bennett Meanie. >> Yes. >> All right. Moving on to resolutions for curriculum and instruction. There are none. So resolutions for board action and board policy items suggested by the superintendent 9.1 to 9.30.
Do we have a motion? >> So moved. >> And is there a second? Second. >> Mrs. Ao, would you please call the role? >> Was that second from Leon? >> Leon. >> Thank you. >> Trustee Leon. >> Yes. >> Trusty Gillis. >> Yes.
>> Trusty Munice. >> Yes. >> Trusty Majia. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pacheco. >> Yes. >> Vice President Darrow. >> Yes. >> President Bennett Meanie. >> Yes. Uh moving to purchasing and business services items suggested by the
superintendent 10.1 to 10.41. >> Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> There any discussion? Sorry, I don't think I asked that before. Hearing none. Mrs. Ikeo, would you please call the role? >> Trusty Leon, >> yes. >> Trusty Gillis,
>> yes. >> Trusty Munice, >> yes. >> Trusty Majia, >> yes. >> Trustee Pacheco, >> yes. Vice President Darl. >> Yes. >> President Bennett Meanie. >> Yes. >> And items for finance 11.1 to 11.15.
Motion. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion on the finance hearing? None. Trusty Leon. >> Yes. >> Trusty Gillis. >> Yes. >> Trusty Munice. >> Yes. >> Trustee Majia.
>> Yes. Trustee Pacheco. >> Yes. >> Vice President Darl. >> Yes. >> President Bennett Meini. >> Yes. >> All right. We're going to open up for public comment. Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Yes.
>> This is five minutes and we have Michael Sheldon. Please come to the podium. >> Oh, good evening again. Michael Sheldon, 47 Floyd Street. Um, first thing I want to ask during your special September meeting when you hired the new BA. I
asked when she would be starting and our new superintendent said January. So, has that changed? Uh, are you is she just covering for is Bicki tonight? I'd like to have some clarification there. uh in
regard to the NJSLA results uh the um eighth grade math results which I've been focusing upon uh in particular for the last couple years. Last year only 2% just under 2% I think it was 1.9%
of our eighth graders were meeting proficiency or expectations in mathematics. That rendered our eighth grade math students collectively as a group the worst performing group in all of Essex County
and the fifth worst in New Jersey. Now a year later, millions of dollars more spent on services, countless millions of hours logged, teaching, etc. Now we're 3%. Hey, let's all celebrate. We have a
three 3% of our eighth graders are meeting basic or proficiency in basic mathematics. It's unacceptable. I don't understand why this room isn't filled with parents screaming, wanting heads to roll,
holding this board and the administration accountable for what is abysmal academic performance. 3% proficiency of our eighth graders in mathematics. What chance do they ever have as a group of ever going to some of
our best colleges, pursuing careers in the sciences or engineering, what have you? Zero. It explains why for the last few years, most of our graduates, if they do go to college, are heading off to community colleges. And don't tell me, oh, well, we had a student here a
couple years ago to Harvard. Yes, they're always statistical outliers, but I'm looking at the central part of the Gaussian distribution. Our district is completely floundering. We are failing our kids who are guaranteed under our state constitution a thorough and
efficient education. Somebody needs to deal with this. And if it's not me, then hopefully whoever's on this board come January is finally going to say enough is enough and actually do something about this pathetic academic
performance of our district. Now, I want to loot back to the uh comments made by Dr. Alfonso. Sir, what you said a few moments ago accusing me of being a racist is absolutely despicable. You're lucky I don't turn around and sue
you for for slander. As far as that little comic that I inserted on Facebook, I asked, as I do have done with many other instances, I asked ChatGpt to make a you a Simpson-like cartoon out
of a snapshot of our board, and that's what they returned. So, if you want to sue somebody, go after Open AI. I'm sure their law firm would love to do battle with you and the Bush Law Group. The Bush Law Group, by the way, which has tried and actually last December,
Jonathan Bush, to his credit, and I was responsible primarily for bringing the Bush Law Group here in February of 2018. But Jonathan admitted to me, he with, you know, tongue and cheek, he kind of smiled as we were the last two leaving in December. He said, "Mike,
you know, I I'm consider friends, but you know, you have to understand my position. I've been ordered for these years to do everything I can to shut you up." and he said, 'I don't have to tell you where those orders came from, but I know who made those orders, and I think we all do. So, I'm not scared of any
superintendent or any law firm. The Bush Law Group at one point tried to put me in prison. Hey, and look where I am. No criminal record, free as a bird. So, sir, if you want to sue me, go ahead. But I want to let this board know with my remaining minute. Enough is enough.
I've I've discussed your history, Mr. Alfonso. There's some really serious questions that need to be answered. Why after being in Saucus for only eight months, you started in July of 2023, you were put on paid administrative leave in March of 2000 uh
to 2024. At that same time, the Sukauakus board hired another attorney to investigate multiple unnamed allegations. That report was finished either at the end of last year, the beginning of 2025, and at the next Sakauus board meeting, they entered into a formal separation agreement with you
in February 13th of 2025. So, since my time is about to come to an end, I want this board to know and everyone else that come tomorrow morning, I'm filing another complaint with the school ethics commission against this entire board, arguing that this board did not exercise
its due diligence in properly vetting. >> Mr. Sheldon, your time is up, Mr. Alonso before hiring you. So, Mr. France, your time is up. Your time is up. I know it's up. >> Thank you very much. Thank you very Thank you very much. Your time is up.
Thank you very much. Your time is up. Thank you very much. Your time is up at this moment. >> Thank you, Mr. Sheldon. Your time is up. >> Thank you. Tell Jonathan I said hi. >> Thank you. >> Good night. Good night, >> Mr. Franton. You know, I I I love how you act like you have all this character and you're
this wonderful person and look at how you act. You you you you you're making comments. You you have we have kids that watch this. At least at least have some common sense not to act that way for them or not to speak the way you speak for them because you're hoping you're
hoping that the microphones catch some of the things that you say. I'm like, dude, like you every single time you get worse and worse and you're talking about how you act. Look at look at how you're look at how you're showing up to a board meeting and you want to act like like like we're insulting you. >> You go and you you come up here, you
make these comments and you know very well you know very well that there are certain comments and certain things that we're not allowed to say as a board. And you're very smart because you like to ask questions in a way where we can't respond to you cuz you know that there's things that we can't say. You know what? We went through a real process here. We
went through a consulting firm that took over this process. We still sat with a with a state monitor in that time and we sat with a sitting superintendent that was was checked every single part of our process. You know what? I hope you do another one of your pointless ethics charges because it's going to show that
you have nothing to stand on like all the other ones. I I I am the focus of one and that's another one that's going to show up that you have you do nothing but waste time and resources because you're someone that sits here and you make all these comments about all the things that we need to do and how we need to be fiscally responsible but you're spending
the board you're you're spending taxpayer dollars trying to chase us out of your own vendettas so >> bro listen you you you stand up here and you act like you're morally higher than everybody else and look at how you look
at how you act. >> Look at how you act. You don't even have the decency. You You stand up here. You You any improvement for our kids in our district. You want to make fun of 1% 3% any kind of percentage. You know what? I'm proud of the fact that these kids are working their butts off to try to
get somewhere. And I'm and and your insinuation that be that your insinuation that none of our kids none of our kids will ever make an Ivy League school. None of our kids will ever make anything out of you. This is what you are saying publicly. You're saying that you feel in your opinion that our kids
will never amount to anything. That's the person that that's standing up here trying to fight for our kids. You forget I sat here for I sat here on this board with you for an entire year and I saw how you alienated every single member on this board. You sit here and you're all smug and you talk about all these
wonderful things you're going to do. You can't even you can't even rally your peers to back you up. And the sad thing is that on a lot of the things that you talk about, we actually agree with you and we would actually love to work with you, but you're such a you're such a character that you rather
alienate everybody else than actually be useful in the position that you're in. I may get my way, I may not get my way. No, I don't. Please. I >> trust you. I'm good. >> Trustee. >> Okay, >> Mr. France Anton.
Well, speaking of respect, I uh guess none of you wanted to um tell the public the restrictions uh the revision to the contract that I asked you for before you voted. Thank you.
No thanks. The uh once again, you know, you're looking, you found $1.7 million in saving. There's a lot lot more we could do. One of the things is we've got to do what all big corporations are doing. It's been on the news the past
month or so. They're cutting staff and especially on the higher end. We've got too many administrators in the Belleville Board of Education. There's where I believe you could save
several other million dollars. Uh we don't need them. Uh we need them in the lower levels and we actually have to teach our kids math, reading, history.
It was shocking about 20 years ago I come to a meeting, a budget meeting in Belleville Board of Education. There was a new line item $750,000. You know what? for remedial reading classes in the high school.
And I wrote a letter to the editor because I got doubly shocked when my son went to Ruckers and the parents stayed when they first started. They presented all the classes they have. And then I was shocked. Ruckers University also had
remedial reading classes. I wrote a long letter. How does a child, he shouldn't get out of third grade if he can't read? And it's not his fault. It's the educational system. So, it's a major embarrassment that we have high schools
and colleges with remedial reading classes. It's unbelievable. So, cut some of these administrators and let's get teachers and and get all these crazy DEI and bullying programs
out and let's get back to teaching. Let's get back to the basics. And we've been saying this for years. Nobody listens. The other thing with the with money, I don't know if any of you trustees ever read the New Jersey
Constitution. We local taxpayers should not be paying for education. Read the constitution. The constitution says the state legislature is responsible provide a thorough and
efficient education for all New Jersey school children ages 5 to 18. So we started that. was on the group uh New Jersey Taxpayers Association and we brought this up to Trenton for a couple
years. Many legislators agreed with us and then what they did, they created the New Jersey income tax. The New Jersey income tax was to pay for education at the state level and eliminate
our local taxes for education. Well, the first year they said we couldn't institute it because we don't collect income taxes until April of the following year. So, we're going to have two taxes, local and state taxes. But next year, we're going to give you a
rebate on what you paid locally. And folks, maybe you're not as old as me, if you don't remember, that's how the Homestead rebate program started. It was supposed to be a one-year transition period. And here we are 30, 40 years
later and we got double taxation. The state is giving your money. Look how much the state, which is my and your taxes also coming from the state and locally here. Somebody's got to have the guts. If you run for office, you know,
and uh I ran for office, they criticized me. I said we have too many people, my department of 28 people. I got rid of four people. And we all knew before I got elected there was a lot of noro jobs. I got rid of them. We did more work in three years than was done the 20
years with four less people in my little department. You could do it here. We need teachers, not administrators. So, you know, you can brag all what you did and what you want, but now comes the truth. And I I
can't believe now, you know, it it's an admission of guilt that you said the state monitor did so many bad things. Why didn't you open your mouth? And and all due to respect some of you who are only on here a year or so, but some of you have been on here long and now
you're telling me the state monitor was bad. What a joke. >> We'll call Mario Jaws. Leaf. Uh Gary Hinton. No. Okay. So, we're gonna take a motion to close public participation. >> So moved.
>> Is there a second? >> I'll second that. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Would any board trustees like to make some closing comments? >> Yeah. Um if I can. >> Yes, you can. Um, no. I so I just want to take a
minute and just, you know, thank our business office and and um, you know, our BA, you know, while she's not at her full capacity until January, um, but she has been in this district and consulting very heavily um, along with with our consultants at this time. So, I want to
thank you all for the hard work that you've been doing. Um, you know, I I I um, this has been a conversation that we've had really the last two years. Last year has been a difficult one because we haven't had um someone in this capacity
uh as a to to drive certain um agendas that we had as a board. Um but to see that we were um in poised to be at a deficit, not including being at adequacy. Um you know, I was making a comment that
I'm very concerned that we're going to price ourselves out of this out of this community. And you know, being a part of Belleville for as long as I've been been a part of Belleville, I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon. and I look forward to having a district that we can all we're we're building up for each other and for ourselves and our kids and
in the future of their families, but that we leave a district that can that they can then one day come back and raise their families and afford to be here as well. So, um I I hope that this number is is not um a cap. I hope that this number is a number that continues to grow. Um I echo a lot of the
sentiment from Mr. Antonia and a lot of our community members and there's a lot of things that need to be seen in or in in a lot of more areas for us to target and I know you're doing so and I appreciate your transparency in that process. Um so I just wanted to highlight that and congratulate everyone that was recognized tonight. Uh it's
incredible. Uh you know keep up the hard work. You know we'll celebrate every victory we have for you. Um whe however small, however big um you're the reasons why we all we're all here and why we do this. And if for any point in this time, you're not the reason why we're doing it, we don't deserve to be up here. So,
we will celebrate every single victory that you have and like it was the biggest thing. So, thank you and have a great uh night and have a safe Halloween. >> Anyone else?
>> Okay. And in closing, yes. No, that it. Okay. So, in closing remarks, we just want to say good night to everyone. Um, have a happy Halloween to all the children out there. Happy and safe Halloween. And I just want to
recognize that uh the Rubber Ducky Foundation had their annual fundraiser uh in memory of Matt Def France. The family um raises money for drug awareness and they are tied very deeply into the Belleville school system in
making sure that some of that money that they raise gets here to assist our students. Uh also want to acknowledge October is breast cancer awareness month and if Mrs. Dr. Trustee Liz Misagia doesn't mind me calling her out as uh a
survivor. uh and to the rest of the folks out there whether you're male or female um you know again if you're a survivor uh breast cancer awareness month and to all the things that are happening. So good night everyone. Our next meeting is in
November. Election day is November 4th. We'll see you out there. Have a good evening.